A well-known fact is that over time urban and architectural tendencies change, therefore, cities can lose their architectural and cultural heritage. From this point of view Yerevan is certainly not an exception. The proof of this is the construction works where a number of architectural monuments were dismantled or demolished. And yet the historical appearance should be preserved in all the cities, not only in the capital. All these changes should be realized in harmony with the existing environment. Old Yerevan project is a kind of way out of the situation. It is designed to recreate the lost heritage and to reveal to us the beautiful architecture and urban environment of Yerevan of 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The project will be realized on the area between the streets Abovyan-Buzand-Kohbatsi-Arami. 14 monument buildings will be joined to other 16 buildings dismantled in recent years. By the decision of the government, the buildings must have 3 ground floors plus attics. Since all the buildings in Yerevan were either single or two-story, the project architect Levon Vardanyan tried to give such concept, where added floors will not interfere with the visual perception of architectural monuments. According to the architect, the project will have 150 thousand square meters of usable area. He intends to recreate the atmosphere of old Yerevan with its courtyards, wooden balconies, cellars. 3 underground floors will stretch along the development. On the first ground floor there will be cellars and vault of buildings, under it will be located 2 parking floors for 1400 places. This will help to solve parking problem in the adjacent streets and significantly offload this part of city. Of course, the project caused some disagreements that recreated buildings cannot be called a monument. If you consider that the law on the protection of monuments says. “Historical and cultural monuments are state-registered, historical, scientific, artistic or cultural structures, their structures and complexes, occupied by them or historically connected with them ...... irrespective of the degree of their preservation” then with the above mentioned opinion it is difficult to disagree. The transference of the monument deprives its value, especially when new stones are used for the building recreation. From architectural and urban planning point of view this step can’t be considered an excuse. According to the architect, 17-meter plastic roof provided by the author can be considered as a solution for scale problem and separates the inner space from foreign environment, thus, deprives panoramas of adjacent high-rise building. Taking into account all the positive aspects of this project, on the other hand, we must note that Yerevan's urban development and architecture should not develop in this direction, since existing monument buildings on different parts of the city revive the city turning it into a quest. By Hasmik Terzyan

The most expensive mansion in Russia was put on sale for about US$ 98,6 million. The mansion with 1700 square meters of total area is located in the closed cottage village «Florance», 5 kilometers from MKAD along the Rublevo-Uspenskoe highway. The mansion consists of 5 furnished bedrooms with their own bathrooms and cloakrooms, four office rooms, spa area with swimming pool, sauna, solarium, beauty salon, cinema, billiard, library and so on. The mansion is located on a plot of 11 thousand square meters. On the site there is a reception house with professional kitchen and conference hall, a garage for six cars, a mini-farm, year-round greenhouses, and ponds equipped for fishing.

The Yerevan Circus, built over six years, will be put into operation in a year, becoming one of the most important cultural sights of Armenian capital. “The construction of the circus is difficult, because the building shape is round, and in this sense, it has its own features. A little more time and we’ll have a luxurious and modernized circus building. Finally, the actors will work under normal conditions, as they have been working in a building that has no basic conditions for many years”, says the art director of the circus Sos Petrosyan. The round shaped old building of the circus was built in 1962 on the site of the first wooden circus building of Yerevan. More than 50 years old building which was not repaired after its opening, was demolished in 2011, when experts concluded that it was inadvisable to repair it. The architect of the project is Vahagn Vermishyan. The construction is financed by Tashir Group. The roof of the former building was only 17 meters, which made it impossible to show most acrobatic tricks. Now the roof has a height of 27 meters, which will allow to show all modern tricks. Former building occupied 3000-3500 square meters, now it is more by 1000 square meters. Instead of old four-story building, the new one has 8 floors, two of which will serve as an underground parking. By the way, it is the only circus in the world that has underground parking. Instead of the previous 1560 seats, now the circus will have 2000 to 2500 seats, as well as three changeable arenas. The new building also will be fully equipped for wheelchair users.

Could you ever imagine working in a small city? A new massive office building by Morphogenesis is being built to accommodate over 45,000 people for the Surat Diamond Bourse office in Surat, Gujarat, India. At 603.9 thousand square meter, and housing over 4,000 offices, it will be the second largest office building in the world, placing only behind the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Although its physical footprint may be large, the office building was designed in a manner to minimize its ecological footprint. Passive design strategies such as day-lit workspaces, natural ventilation, and indoor/outdoor spaces not only make the Surat Diamond office an efficient climate-responsive design, but also a key player for achieving aesthetic and comfortable working spaces. Perhaps the largest challenge with a design of this size is how to navigate the large volume of people which would inhabit it. Morphogenesis approached this by designating the ground plane for vehicular movement and podium levels exclusively pedestrian circulation. On this podium level, transportation routes are optimized to create no walking time greater than 4 minutes from an entrance to office module—a design strategy similar to that of airport terminals. The Surat Diamond Office wanted to foster an environment of social interaction and recreation. Over 40% of the building spaces are naturally ventilated, and a dense vegetation fills both the outside and inside of the building. These decisions not only blur the line between interior and exterior but also creating psychological advantages and improving indoor air quality. Additional climate-responsive design techniques are utilized to combat the hot and humid climate of Surat. All offices have been designed to face a pure north-south orientation, and a robust building envelope with less than 30% window area, lightweight concrete block construction and using the advantages of thermal mass by natural brick cladding helps bring down the external heat gains. The efficiency of the building also extends into its construction design. The project represents an innovative approach to low-cost architecture designed with maximum spatial efficiency. Design optimization and simplicity through design modularity diminished project costs to as low as US$ 555.6 for square meter while still maintaining high standards of environmental sustainability.

Mega Mall Armenia will differ from the capital’s other malls with its bigger size. Currently it is the largest commercial building in Armenia with floor area about 105 000 sq. m. including parking lots and other serving areas. The main building’s area is 25 000 sq. m. Due to sloping terrain of the construction site part of the building has four stories, and another - five. Despite its big size and complicated structure, it will have quite simple orientation inside the building due to many helpful connections between the floors. Currently the finishing works are ongoing. Automated Underground Parking Lot Besides open parking lot located around the mall, there will also be 15 000 sq. m indoor two-story car lot with automated parking system. Before entering the line, the driver will see on the screen the number and location of free and busy parking places marked accordingly with green and red lights. Main Entertainment and Trade Places Mega Mall Armenia will have two-story entertainment and game zone (5800 sq. m.) where the first indoor karting in Armenia to open. A waterfall swing, a new kind of entertainment in Armenia, will also be placed at entertainment and game zone. There will also be a food court which will consist of 12 restaurants and cafes, 4 cinema halls and а big fitness club with 2000 sq. m. area. The main trade outlets will be a large computer electronics and appliances store (10000 sq. m.), Yerevan City hypermarket (5600 sq. m) and a wholesale agricultural market (2000 sq. m).